McCormick Theological Seminary
MED/E 401: Culture, Race, and Privilege
Wednesday
2.00 – 4.50
Reggie Williams
David Esterline
Spring 2014
Course Description:
Ministry in the multi-racial and multicultural context of North America calls for leaders
who understand the culture of others as well as their own race and culture. These leaders
will be conscious of the racialized reality of their context. They will practice ministry that is
anti-racist and skillful in intercultural communication. This course is designed to develop
and cultivate such anti-racist and cultural competence by focusing on listening and
learning amid cultural and racial difference.
We will interrogate the ways in which whiteness has historically and theologically formed
both humanity, and Christ, by tracing the strange origins of this worldview from the
Enlightenment to the practices and performance of politics and faith in American history.
The class will utilize historical, literary, psychological, social theory, and theological
methods for its investigations, attempting to keep an eye on both historical and
contemporary contexts. The twin goals of this class will be to analyze contemporary racial
conditions and unearth a Christian theological account of social engagement, with a view
toward the recovery of a healthier notion of human beings, and of Christ.
Learning Outcomes:
By the end of the course, students will be able to
1. Describe and discuss their own culture, race, and ethnicity and understand their
presumptions and predispositions about other cultures and races.
2. Listen and learn from those whose cultural locations are different from their own and
define the main elements of intercultural communication.
3. Articulate an understanding of race and racism in the North American context using
sociological, economic, and theological categories.
Course Expectations
 Attendance and informed participation are required and will be considered when
determining final course grades. If you need to be away for more than one session, your
final grade will be lowered by one letter grade.
 Tardiness is disruptive; please do your best to be on time. Punctuality, too, will be
considered when grades are finalized.
 Assignments and presentations must be completed on time. Extension of due dates for
written work or class presentations is not possible—unless negotiated in a manner that
will benefit all members of the class.
Course Schedule:
Wednesdays, 2.00-4.50
Required reading for the course will include:
You may wish to purchase the following:
George M. Fredrickson. Racism: A Short History. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University
Press, 2002.
Eric H. F. Law. The Bush was Blazing but not Consumed: Developing a Multicultural
Community Through Dialogue and Liturgy. St. Louis: Chalice Press, 1996. 0827202229
Rothenberg, Paula S. White Privilege: Essential Readings on the Other Side of Racism, 4th ed.
New York: Worth Publishers, 2011.1877864625
Beverly Daniel Tatum, “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” And
Other Conversations About Race. New York: Basic Books, 2003. 0465083617
Several shorter required readings will be available on Moodle, including:
Milton J. Bennett, “Intercultural Communication: A Current Perspective,” in Basic Concepts
of Intercultural Communication: Selected Readings, ed. Milton J. Bennett. Yarmouth,
ME: Intercultural Press, 1998. 1877864625 (You may wish to buy a copy of the book; it
contains a number of significant essays on intercultural communication.)
Additional short required readings will be posted on Moodle prior to the class.
In addition, please select one of the books listed below to read and review. You will give a
presentation in class (a short critical review) as well as prepare a short (no more than 4
pages) review in writing.
Alexander, Michelle. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. New
York: The New Press, 2010.
Augsburger, David. Conflict Mediation Across Cultures: Pathways & Patterns (Louisville:
Westminster John Knox, 1992).
Brown, Michael, et al. White-Washing Race: The Myth of a Color-Blind Society. Berkeley:
University of California Press, 2003.
Bush, Melanie E. L. Breaking the Code of Good Intentions: Everyday Forms of Whiteness.
Lanham, MD, 2004.
Cone, James H. The Cross and the Lynching Tree. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 2011
Daniel, Ben. Neighbor: Christian Encounters with “Illegal” Immigration. Louisville: Westminster
John Knox. 2010.
Du Bois, W. E. B. The Souls of Black Folk. Bantam classic ed. ed. New York: Bantam Books, 1989.
Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man. New York: Random House, 1952.
Emerson, Michael, and Christian Smith. Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem
of Race in America. Oxford: University Press, 2000.
Helms, Janet E. A Race Is a Nice Thing to Have: A Guide to Being a White Person or
Understanding the White Persons in Your Life. 2nd ed. Hanover, Mass.: Microtraining
Associates, 2008.
Hopkins, Dwight N. Being Human: Race, Culture, and Religion. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2005.
Howard, Gary R. We Can’t Teach What We Don’t Know: White Teachers, Multiracial Schools. 2nd
ed. New York, Teachers College Press, 2005.
Johnson, James Weldon. The Autobiography of an Ex‐Colored Man Penguin Twentieth
Century Classics. New York, N.Y., U.S.A.: Penguin Books, 1990.
Kendall, Frances E. Understanding White Privilege: Creating Pathways to Authentic Relationships
Across Race. New York: Routledge, 2006.
Marsh, Charles. The Beloved Community: How Faith Shapes Social Justice, from the Civil Rights
Movement to Today. New York: Basic Books, 2005.
Morrison, Toni. The Bluest Eye. New York: Plume Book, 2005.
Perkinson, James W. White Theology: Outing Supremacy in Modernity. New York, Palgrave
MacMillan, 2004.
Painter, Nell Irvin. The History of White People. New York: W. W. Norton, 2010.
Priest, Robert J. and Alvaro L. Nieves, eds. This Side of Heaven: Race, Ethnicity, and Christian
Faith. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006.
Rah, Soong-Chan. The Next Evangelicalism: Freeing the Church from Western Cultural Captivity.
Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2009.
Regan, Margaret Regan. The Death of Josseline: Immigration Stories from the Arizona-Mexico
Borderlands. Boston: Beacon Press, 2010.
Smith, David I. Learning from the Stranger: Christian Faith and Cultural Diversity. Grand Rapids:
Eerdmans, 2009.
Sue, Derald Wing. Microaggressions in Everyday Life: Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation.
Hoboken: Wiley, 2010.
_____, ed. Microagressions and Marginality: Manifestation, Dynamics, and Impact. Hoboken:
Wiley, 2010.
Thurman, Howard. Jesus and the Disinherited. Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 1996.
Tochluk, Shelly. Witnessing Whiteness: First Steps Toward an Antiracist Practice and Culture.
Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2008.
Turner, Eugene G., ed. Dissent and Empowerment: Essays in Honor of Gayraud Wilmore.
Louisville: Witherspoon Press, 1999.
West, Cornel. Race Matters. Boston: Beacon Press, 1993.
White, Augustus A. Seeing Patients: Unconscious Bias in Health Care. Cambridge: Harvard UP,
2011.
Williams, Delores S. Sisters in the Wilderness: The Challenge of Womanist God-Talk. Maryknoll,
N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1993.
Wise, Tim. Between Barack and a Hard Place: Racism and White Denial in the Age of Obama.
San Francisco: City Lights Books, 2009.
_____. Color-Blind: The Rise of Post-Racial Politics and the Retreat from Racial Equity. San
Francisco: City Lights Books, 2010.
Wu, Frank H. Yellow: Race in America: Beyond Black and White. New York: Basic Books, 2002.